Income Tax Act 2007

454 Meaning of “qualifying maintenance payment” U.K.

(1) For the purposes of section 453 a payment is a “qualifying maintenance payment” if conditions A to E are met.

(2) Condition A is that the payment is a periodical payment made by—

(a) one of the parties to a marriage or civil partnership (including a marriage or civil partnership which has been dissolved or annulled) to or for the benefit of the other party and for the maintenance of the other party, or

(b) one parent of a child to the child's other parent for the maintenance of the child by the other parent or by one person to another for the maintenance by the other of a relevant child of theirs.

(3) Condition B is that—

(a) in a case falling within subsection (2)(a), either of the parties to the marriage or civil partnership was born before 6 April 1935, and

(b) in a case falling within subsection (2)(b), either the person who made the payment, or the person to whom it is made, was born before that date.

(4) Condition C is that the payment is made—

(a) under an order made by a court in [F1 the United Kingdom or] a member State, or

(b) under a written agreement the law applicable to which is the law of [F2 the United Kingdom or of a part of the United Kingdom or of] a member State or of a part of a member State.

(5) Condition D is that the payment is due at a time when—

(a) in a case falling within subsection (2)(a)—

(i) the two parties are not a married couple, or civil partners of each other, living together (see section 1011), and

(ii) the party to whom or for whose benefit the payment is made has not entered into a new marriage or a new civil partnership, and

(b) in a case falling within subsection (2)(b), the person making the payment and the person to whom the payment is made are not living together.

(6) Condition E is that relief from tax in respect of the payment is not available to the person making it under any provision of the Income Tax Acts other than section 453.

(7) In subsection (4) the reference to an order made by a court in [F3 the United Kingdom] includes a reference to a maintenance calculation.

(8) “Maintenance calculation” means—

(a) a maintenance calculation made under the Child Support Act 1991 (c. 48), or

(b) a maintenance assessment made under the Child Support (Northern Ireland) Order 1991 (S.I. 1991/2628 (N.I. 23)).

(9) In this section—

• “child” means a person under 21 years of age,

• “periodical payment” does not include an instalment of a lump sum, and

• “relevant child”, in relation to any two persons, means a child who (not being a child who has been boarded out with them by a public authority or voluntary organisation) has been treated by both of them as a child of their family.

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in s. 454(4)(a) inserted (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2) of the amending S.I.) by The Income Tax (Qualifying Maintenance Payments) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 (S.I. 2022/169), regs. 1(1), 2(2)(a)

F2 Words in s. 454(4)(b) inserted (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2) of the amending S.I.) by The Income Tax (Qualifying Maintenance Payments) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 (S.I. 2022/169), regs. 1(1), 2(2)(b)

F3 Words in s. 454(7) substituted (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2) of the amending S.I.) by The Income Tax (Qualifying Maintenance Payments) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 (S.I. 2022/169), regs. 1(1), 2(3)